


fire and kisses

by nasaplates



Category: C-Pop, EXO (Band), K-pop
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Alternate Universe - Veterinarians, Dragons, Fluff, M/M, Mutual Pining, but I promise it is VERY mild, some mild danger
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-05
Updated: 2019-11-05
Packaged: 2021-01-16 13:28:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,210
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21271802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nasaplates/pseuds/nasaplates
Summary: Yixing had seen a lot of things as a veterinarian, but Kris Wu and his new baby dragon still manage to take him by surprise





	fire and kisses

**Author's Note:**

> huge thank you to the November Rain mods, y'all were fantastic and I had a great time writing for this fest
> 
> to the prompter, I hope you like where I went with this <3
> 
> big thanks to kiki for betaing this and generally assuring me it was good *HUGS*

Yixing startled awake at his desk, unsure why until he saw the stress reliever ball that must've hit him rolling to a stop against his little T-Rex plushie. When he looked up to the doorway, Amber was there, arms crossed, eyebrows lifted, annoyed and amused twist to her mouth.

"Late night?" she asked.

"There was a -" sphinx, with a thorn in her paw, he'd had to go out to the museum she was a night guard for because she'd agreed to never leave unless under 'grievous bodily harm' and a sore foot didn't count. He couldn't talk about it though because she was embarrassed about the whole thing and he'd answered a riddle wrong while distracted (which she was very smug about) and he hadn't figured out a way to undo whatever magic she did to make it so he couldn't tell anyone what happened, which was mostly annoying because he couldn't even fill out paperwork about it. He scowled.

"Yeah, late night." He rubbed his forehead, trying to get out the inevitable creases in his skin from sleeping partially on a keyboard.

Amber thunked an extra large mug of steaming coffee on his desk, which Yixing scrambled to pick up and slurped half of it in one drink, eyes closed in bliss. Eyes still closed, he hummed. "Marry me."

Amber chuckled. "No offense bro, but you're not my type." She lovingly patted his cheek. "Get back to me in the next life if we're both girls, bud."

Yixing opened his eyes and pouted, just because. She just laughed at him, and tossed a patient file so it slid neatly in front of him. Her other job was as a wild dragon rescuer and it made her highly efficient, and very skilled at helping him not keel over from something stupid. And very good at dodging things, which is why he no longer tried to throw things back at her.

"You've got a patient, baby dragon, 3 months." Yixing frowned. Dragons usually stayed with a parent for at least two years before they agreed to finding a home of their own, not because they needed to for health reasons, they usually weaned within 3 months, but simply because they didn't want to. And convincing a dragon to do anything they didn't want to do was an extremely difficult task. Illegal breeders were an unfortunate reality, and poachers sometimes orphaned babies too young, but it was rare for either case to lead to a healthy dragon.

"The papa is legit, didn't buy her from an illegal source, no sign of poachers being involved either. He says he went to take the garbage out and the baby was just sitting on his doorstep. Seems healthy enough, no obvious distress, she looks at him like he hung the moon, so." Amber shrugged. "She Chose him, I guess."

Choosing was rare, though common enough Yixing had seen it a few times in his career. A baby dragon leaves their parent as soon as they've been weaned and Chooses a human. The dragons are always healthy and happy and go on to lead long, devoted lives with whoever they've Chosen, and often their descendants and other family members as well.

Yixing flipped open the nearly empty file, only one sheet with basic information inside the folder. Under 'Owner Name'  _ Kris Wu _ was scrawled in messy chicken scratch. Address and other contact information Yixing skimmed over, knowing Amber would already have checked to make sure it all got filled out correctly. At the bottom, beneath the species and breed categories, was 'Pet Name' where the same chicken scratch had carefully written  _ Queenie ?, _ the question mark an afterthought, ink from the pen pooling a bit at the bottom dot.

Yixing stood, smiling a bit at that question mark, and walked out to the waiting room, Amber punching him lightly in the shoulder in goodbye. He rubbed his arm as he opened the waiting room door.

"Queenie?" he asked, even though it was perfectly obvious which of his waiting patients was the infant dragon with her new Chosen.

Baby dragons were uninspired looking, as a rule, grey mottled blobs about the size of adult cats that could curl up tightly and look like small boulders in a crisis. Queenie was no exception, looking a bit like an odd rock formation sitting with regal posture on a man's lap, her sapphire eyes the only sparkle of dazzling color hinting at her future exceptional beauty. 

The man was equally odd, equally a study in contrasts. High cheekbones in an almost soft face, sharp nose over a small but plush mouth, heavy eyebrows and dark circles surrounded intense eyes. His hair was black and straight, but looked as though it was between styles, not quite short, not quite a mullet, not exactly long. Some of it was pulled up and tied messily, like he'd only done it because his hair was in his face and annoying him. His clothes looked like an odd mismatch, plaid pants that might have been designer and a band t-shirt, and on the wrist of one of his enormous hands resting gently and protectively on Queenie’s back was a wristwatch that Yixing had a feeling cost more than a year of Yixing’s wages.

Queenie chirped, an odd mixture of kitten mew and gravel slipping under booted feet, looking at Yixing as if to say,  _ 'Yes, hello, what is it you want?' _

The man, Kris, Yixing did know his name even if he wasn’t properly introduced, startled at the sound and his severe resting bitch face cracked when he looked at her in a mixture of confusion and wonder. She tipped her head backwards to look at him adorably upside down, flicked out a long, wide, snakelike tongue to lick his cheek. Kris laughed, low and pleased, and caught Yixing’s eyes over Queenie’s head, his face softened by affection into something young and beautiful.

To cover up whatever his face was doing, Yixing looked down and ruffled the single sheet of paper in Queenie's file, clearing his throat and frowning in professional interest. When he had his expression under control, he looked up again and jerked his head towards the door to the examination room.

"Mr. Wu, Queenie, I'm Dr. Zhang, why don't you two come with me so we can get started?" he said, smiling politely. Kris's face fell back into a serious frown, gentle and awkward hands picking Queenie up as he stood. It took them some jostling and an affronted flop from Queenie to find a comfortable position, one hand cradled under Queenie's back legs, one on her back, her head hooked over his shoulder and her tail wrapped around his forearm. Kris was frozen for a second, like he wasn’t sure why he was being trusted with something so precious, so Yixing gave him the privacy of his turned back, and strode into his exam room, knowing Kris would follow.

Generally first appointments like this were quick and simple affairs, in and out within 15 minutes, 20 if the owner had questions, an hour at most if the (generally young) animal had something that needed to be treated, or have tests done, or catalogued in their file. Yixing liked the simplicity and ease of these appointments, and that it usually meant he didn’t have to do anything more stressful than give an animal their first vaccination shots.

It became very clear very quickly that this was not going to be the same kind of simple appointment.

Kris walked in, still cradling Queenie to his chest, and stood next to the exam table, clearly unsure how to get her to let go of him now that she’d decided she was comfy where she was.

“Um,” he said, shifting her gently, trying to pull her away from his chest. She grumbled and dug her claws into his shoulder making him hiss. He petted her, smoothing her almost feather like spine scales and gave Yixing an embarrassed glance. “Come on now, you need to get down.”

Yixing smirked and pulled a small wedge of chocolate out of a drawer. Queenie’s nostrils flared immediately and she almost flipped over backwards onto the table to scuttle near enough to snatch the chocolate out of Yixing’s fingers.

“Oh,” Kris said, brow furrowed. “I thought chocolate was...bad?”

“No,” Yixing said, watching Queenie wiggle her back in glee, eyes closed while she chewed. “That’s dogs, dragons are perfectly safe to eat chocolate, they love it. But  _ never,” _ he said, pointing a stern finger at a very wide eyed Kris, “give her bananas.” Kris blinked at him and then pulled out an  _ honest to god notebook _ and Yixing had to turn around to hide his smile, taking the opportunity to gather together his basic first time shots.

“Uh,” Kris said to Yixing’s back. “What happens, if she accidentally eats a banana? Like, what are the symptoms? Just in case.”

Yixing coughed to cover a chuckle and kept his eyes on his syringes, professional demeanor firmly in place when he turned around and said, deadpan, “Explosive farts.”

Kris just looked at him for a long moment before he started snickering, eyes pinching almost closed, body swaying with it. Yixing kept his smile small, focused on pulling on gloves and readying the syringes. Queenie, done with the chocolate and peering between Kris and Yixing, glared at the needles and let out a garbled hiss. On instinct, Kris put his hands on either side of Queenie’s chest, cradling her and holding her gently, she licked one of his hands, still managing to keep one eye on the needles.

“What are those for?” Kris asked. It was only the first of a seemingly infinite number of questions.

Throughout the entire process of calming Queenie, Kris kept up a torrent of questions, Yixing volleying answers back like a tennis match. Queenie was so distracted by the back and forth, head swinging from man to man, eyes bright and intelligent, that she didn't notice the first shot going into the large muscle of her thigh. After she realized it was over and it hadn't hurt a bit, she wasn't the least bit concerned, even going so far as to move herself at Yixing's request, spreading her wings so he could measure them, standing on hind legs so he could check her muscle development. All the while Kris kept asking questions, only interrupted to coo at Queenie.

"So, like, what kind of,  _ oh look at you! That's my tall girl yes you are! _ Um, what kind of things should I look out for? Like, what stuff should worry me, y'know?" Kris asked, near the end of the exam. 

Yixing, distracted by how unusually bright Queenie's belly scales were, already showing some blue coloring at such a young age, muttered, "Anything unusual, I suppose, discomfort, unhappiness, new things you hadn't noticed before."

Kris hummed in response, jotting down yet another note, and Queenie, fully sick of being prodded, hopped back up into Kris's arms and curled up into an almost boulder form, one bright blue eye peeking out at Yixing from under her wing. They said their goodbyes, not shaking hands because Kris refused to release his scaly burden, and Yixing smiled to himself, thinking about how happy and safe a baby dragon would have to feel in order to already be letting go of her protective coloring.

***

The next time Yixing saw Kris and Queenie was the next day. Bright and early. Waiting outside the office doors before Yixing even got there.

"Oh," Yixing said, still bleary eyed and operating at least two cups of coffee shy of full efficiency. "Uh, hello?"

"Yeah, uh, hi, Dr. Zhang, sorry," Kris said, and wow Yixing had really forgotten just how deep his voice was. Queenie looked very chipper, making a pleased sounding meow crossed with the  _ clack _ rocks make when you throw them at building walls. She was wrapped around Kris's neck like some kind of very avant garde scarf. Kris, dressed in baggy shorts and a tshirt despite the morning chill, smiled at her and tickled her chin until she started gnawing on his hand. He winced but didn't pull his hand away.

"So, she, um. Well, she keeps biting things?" Kris said, which was a very moot point considering she'd moved on from Kris's hand to the gold chain of his necklace, leaving behind gummy dents in the metal and a trail of slimy saliva.

"Huh," Yixing said, oddly mesmerized by the way Kris kept petting her scales even while Queenie ruined a no doubt stupidly expensive piece of jewelry. Shaking himself out of the moment, he fumbled for his keys and unlocked the door. "Come on, let me, uh, get settled and we'll see what's going on."

_ Get settled, _ in this case, meant 'down a cup of coffee in one very hot gulp and throw on a lab coat to make it look like he was less dead than he felt.' He hadn't slept well. He didn't sleep well, as a rule, but he'd been up all night researching Chosen, unable to get Queenie's scales out of his mind.

Snagging Queenie's file from his desk where he'd left it, he strode into the exam room where Queenie was hanging from the exam table by her mouth, jaw chomping away, too-small front limbs scrabbling for purchase, and Kris holding her middle with a deeply panicked look on his face. 

"Oh," Yixing said, stopping in the doorway. He set down the file, pulled a Kong doggie chew ball out of the freezer, and tossed it in Queenie's direction. Kris had enough time to yelp "Hey!" in outrage before Queenie had released the table and deftly caught the ball.  _ Good reflexes, _ Yixing thought, making a mental note to add it to her file.

"She's teething," Yixing said, which Queenie punctuated by making very happy high pitched purring sounds, eyes opening and closing in slow blinks at the cold toy on her sore gums.

"Oh," Kris said, still crouched low and holding Queenie by the middle, hands easily overlapping over her soft baby belly. "Huh."

"It's nothing to worry about, very normal, should pass in a week at most," Yixing said, watching Kris straighten up like a stiff tinman, endearingly awkward. "Keep the ball, I have tons of them. Wash it and then stick it in the freezer when it thaws out, it'll help soothe her. And let her pick her foods, give her some options, hard foods and soft depending on how sore her mouth is feeling." 

Kris slowly relaxed, helped immensely by the way Queenie twisted her head around to rub her face happily against his, still chewing away at the ball. The hold turned into a cradle, already looking so much more natural than the day before. It took Yixing a moment to realize that while he'd been watching the soft expression on Kris's face, Queenie had been watching him, eyes bright.

Feeling oddly caught out, Yixing cleared his throat and turned to start scribbling nonsense into Queenie's file, just for something to do.

"Oh. Thanks, Dr. Zhang, I really appreciate it," Kris said, low and serious. Yixing yawned against the back of his hand and flapped the other in his direction.

"Don't mention it, Mr. Wu, happy to help," Yixing said. Queenie made a sound so much like  _ thank you _ that Yixing had to turn to look. Dragons weren't known for their ability to speak human language, but they were very good at making their meaning known regardless. Yixing smiled, and smoothed a finger from the tip of her snout along her nose and up between her eyes to her forehead. She rumbled in pleasure.

Only when Kris took a shuffling half step back did Yixing realize how close they'd been, sharing body heat, almost sharing breath. They both made an awkward sound, cleared throat, faked cough, neither of them looking at the other.

"Call me if -"

"Well I guess I-"

They both started to speak at the same time, then stopped and laughed awkwardly. Eventually, Kris shuffled Queenie enough to free a hand, stuck it out to Yixing to shake.

"Thanks," Kris said. Yixing nodded.

Yixing watched the pair walk out the door, eyes trailing across Kris's shoulders and his wide back, over his ass and down his muscular legs. When his eyes made the trip back up again, Queenie was looking at him over Kris's shoulder, and the sound she made could almost be called a laugh.

***

Two days later Yixing came out of his exam room, chatting idly with Jongdae and his cat, when he was forced to duck a tiny but impressive fireball that exploded into a black burn mark on the wall behind his head.

Kris was huddled in a corner of the waiting room, trying to curl around a very irate Queenie, looking terrified and vengeful, like he'd have someone's head for whatever was wrong with his darling girl. A handful of burn marks littered the chairs and the floor, one on the ceiling. Yixing had enough time to bemoan the fact that Amber was out of the office before another fireball came whizzing past, this one fast and at knee level, forcing him to do an odd dance to keep from being burned. 

Diving back into the exam room, Yixing grabbed the pair of blacksmith's gloves he'd bought after taking Queenie on as a patient, black and thick and up to his elbows. Shoving them on, he quick stepped through the waiting room right up to Queenie and clamped her jaws shut with the gloves. Queenie glared at him affronted, only kept still by Kris's tight grip pinning her wings and limbs to her body, before going cross eyed, and then jerking, a puff of black smoke coming out of her nostrils and ears.

"Hiccups," Yixing panted, keeping his hands firmly in place over Queenie's jaws, making sure to leave her nostrils free to breathe.

"Oh my  _ god," _ Kris said, dropping his forehead down to the crown of Queenie's head. She hiccupped again, another puff of black smoke. "Fucking  _ hiccups." _

Yixing looked directly into Queenie's miserable eyes. "Drink more water, silly." He shook Queenie's head lightly to make the point. She just hiccupped again in response, growling once the spasm passed. To Kris Yixing said, "Rub her throat, please, long firm strokes, smooth and steady."

Kris made eye contact with him, hands still, and Yixing realized for the second time that week that he was much closer to him than he anticipated. He blinked a handful of times and then Queenie jerked, a small lick of flame escaping between Yixing's fingers, making him swear at the heat.

Kris's hand rubbed just like Yixing asked him to, long firm strokes, going in the direction of her scales. He started up a soothing murmur in her ear, too, babbling nonsense, lots of  _ good girl _ and  _ that's my baby. _ As time went on and Queenie didn't hiccup again, Yixing watched Kris's face, so close he could count his eyelashes if he wanted to.

"Good job," he said, unintentionally mimicking Kris's low intimate tone. "You're doing so well."

Kris's cheekbones stained pink, and he swallowed, but his eyes were hard and searching when he looked into Yixing's.

Queenie squirmed against Yixing's hold on her face and he released her, well over a minute having passed since the last hiccup. He hovered his hands by her face just in case, but she nipped the gloves, not hard enough to do damage, just to say  _ fuck off, I'm fine. _

Yixing stepped back, hands flipped wide in the awkwardly thick gloves. Kris stood from his protective crouch, and Queenie snuggled firmly into his chest, clearly sick of Yixing and the entire ordeal.

"Thank you, Doctor Zhang," Kris said.

"I think," Yixing said, mock thoughtful, "after managing an explosively hiccuping dragon together, you can go ahead and call me Yixing." He grinned at Kris, the answering grin setting off a flutter in his belly. 

"Kris," he said, blurting it out. "Call me Kris."

Yixing nodded, looking away to try to beat that fluttering feeling down with a stick.

"I'm so sorry about," Kris said, gesturing with his chin at the scorch marks throughout the office. "I'll cover the damage." He was earnest and no nonsense about it, no guilt, no question. Yixing liked that, even if there was no way he was going to let him do that when it was hardly his fault his baby dragon had a muscle spasm.

Yixing opened his mouth to protest but Kris just started walking out the door, calling over his shoulder, "Thank you, Yixing, sorry again." 

Rolling his eyes, Yixing yelled, "Make sure she stays hydrated!" at Kris's retreating back, to which he got a half turn and a salute in response.

A few days later a check arrived in the mail covering the costs of repairing the scorch marks (which Amber had gleefully wanted to keep as they added 'ambiance' to the space) and enough extra left over to replace the last of the old fluorescent overhead lights that always make Yixing's eyes twitch. Yixing thought about shredding the check, just out of pride, but he couldn't stop thinking about that hard and searching look in Kris's eyes, so close to his he could count the flecks of golden brown in their dark color. 

Yixing kept the money, but he made sure to stock extra chocolate for the next time Kris and Queenie came by.

***

Kris made an appointment the next time, Amber fielded the call and added it to the big whiteboard in Yixing's office. Yixing blinked up at it.

"Tomorrow?" he said. It felt like a bad mark on his veterinary record to have seen the same patient four times in the first week. 

"Yeah, your Chosen boy said she's got a limp, didn't seem to bother her much but he's worried so he took the first available slot," Amber said, distracted, filling in the other new appointments and erasing a canceled one.

"Kris is not  _ my Chosen boy," _ Yixing said, scowling.

"Oh ho ho! So now he's  _ Kris," _ Amber singsonged his name and waggled her eyebrows. Yixing tossed a stress ball at her head, entirely unsurprised when she laughed and caught it without even looking.

The next day Kris came in, wearing jeans this time, but a pale cream shirt that looked like it was actual silk, cradling Queenie like a baby, all four legs in the air. She looked cranky about it, but kept her ear over his heart and glared at Yixing like she'd toast him if he moved her.

"So, what's wrong, huh? I hear you've got a bit of a limp," Yixing said to Queenie. Her belly scales were almost entirely blue now, shimmering and vibrant even in the sterile light of the exam room. Kris bounced her a little and she grumbled and took a mouthful of Kris's shirt, showing off a mouthful of fresh new teeth, the price for her aggravated teething.

"I think she has something in her foot," Kris said. He squirmed and twisted his mouth. "I can see it, but I, um." He looked more embarrassed than Yixing had ever seen him and he raised his eyebrows in confusion and encouragement. 

Kris squeezed his eyes shut and tilted his face to the ceiling.

"I couldn't dig it out, it was too gross. And she kept crying at me when I touched it like it hurt and I just. Couldn't." Kris sighed, defeated.

Yixing tried not to chuckle. It was an extremely common issue for owners to have, not wanting to deal with either the bodily fluids or the feeling they were hurting their animal child. Reigning in his smile by turning to get a pair of gloves and some instruments, Yixing replied.

"I understand completely, Kris. That's what I'm here for." He pulled a little bandage out of a different drawer, and then broke off a big chunk of chocolate. When he turned around, Queenie's eyes were huge and round as she sniffed the air for the chocolate.

Tossing her a small piece, which she deftly caught, Yixing gently checked her paws while she was distracted. Sure enough there was a burr, like from a weed, lodged in the tender gap where her fleshy toe pads met with her foot scales. The flesh was swollen and reddened, some white pus just forming, showing the first signs of infection. Yixing clucked his tongue.

"Okay then, we're gonna get this outta here and you'll be good as new, ok?" Yixing rubbed the top of her head making her rumble happily. His hand brushed Kris's silk-covered chest and Kris shivered. Yixing refused to give in to the temptation to see what his face was doing, the warm puffs of his breath against Yixing's hair were enough to set his heart thumping. He had a job to do.

In a quick series of movements, Yixing picked up a piece of chocolate, plopped it directly into Queenie's mouth, picked up the tweezers, and deftly plucked the burr out of her foot. She yowled, the sound garbled by the chocolate, but calmed immediately, staring in surprise at her foot. She flexed her toe and hummed a trilling song of thanks.

"Look at that Queenie! It's all gone!" Kris said, bending his head enough to drop a kiss onto her head, smiling like the sun. 

Yixing cleaned away the small amount of pus, and dabbed some cream on the wound. With a flourish, Yixing pressed on a bright blue bandage, tucking it around and between two toes so it'd stay on for at least the rest of the day.

"See?" Yixing said to Queenie, "It's blue, just like you!" He tickled her belly and she chattered like rain on a tin roof, squirming back into Kris's chest. Kris chuckled, a low sound that was deep and rich and went to places completely inappropriate for the exam room.  _ Down boy, _ Yixing thought, and cleared his voice.

"She'll be fine, the bandage should stay on for the day, but other than that, just watch out for any signs of infection."

"Thank you, Yixing," Kris said, bending his head and looking into Yixing's eyes earnestly. They were much too close, Yixing could smell his cologne, something expensive and delicious, his lips parted and so very tempting.

Suddenly, a knock sounded on the exam room door. Amber came in in time to see the two of them spring apart as though the air between them was on fire.

"Oh," Amber said, looking between them. "Uhhhh, should I -?"

"Yes?" Yixing said, rasping at first. He cleared his throat and tried again. "Yeah? What's up?"

"Your 3 o'clock is here, sorry," and she really did look sorry, "I just wondered if I should tell them you're running late…?" She looked over to Kris and back at Yixing significantly.

"We better go," Kris said before Yixing could open his mouth. "If she's…?" He trailed off looking over Yixing's shoulder like he couldn't meet his eye.

"Oh, yes, yeah, she's um. She's fine, good as new, right, Queenie?" Yixing stammered out. Queenie looked at him like he was a particularly stupid rodent. Kris still wouldn't look at him at all.

"Um," Kris said at the door, mostly over his shoulder. His side profile was on perfect display, all the sharp lines and bizarrely elegant curves of his features. "Thank you, again."

And before Yixing could tell him not to mention it, he was gone.

***

"She seems," there was a long pause as Kris searched for the word in narrow eyed consideration of Queenie while Yixing pursed his lips and waited. "Weird."

Queenie stared at them, first at Kris, then at Yixing. They stared back. Queenie frowned, and then burped a tiny flame. She seemed very satisfied with herself.

"Hm," Yixing said.

"Hm," Kris replied.

Queenie stared at them, back and forth, and then rolled her eyes so hard her entire head followed the motion, her body going almost liquid as she tipped herself off the exam table to land on all fours on the floor. She walked out the door in a huff, head high, with her wings half raised to keep her balance, tail dragging behind her on the floor.

"Well," Yixing said.

"Yeahhhhh," Kris drawled, dragging out the single syllable. There was a faint dusting of pink on his cheeks, and he flicked a glance at Yixing through the side of his round orange-tinted glasses. They made him look a mixture of chic and ridiculous that really shouldn't have worked but, apparently, Yixing's libido didn't care. 

He'd given up pretending he wasn't halfway in love with this odd, loving, fiercely protective, strangely childlike, and overall beautiful human. It was inconvenient as all fuck, but that didn't stop him from staring at Kris's lips and wondering how grotesquely unprofessional it would be to ask a patient's owner out for dinner. Or, well. Coffee. Or not coffee. Unless coffee meant 'after hours office sex.'

Kris shrugged. Yixing shrugged.

Kris tossed Yixing a peace sign that made an unsuccessful transition into a salute and then somehow made his long-legged stride look like an awkward retreat.

Yixing resigned himself to another night with only his paperwork and the latest selkie research for company.

***

A month passed, each day crossed off on the wall calendar. Yixing saw many patients, both in the office and out in the field for some of the larger creatures, or ones that weren’t able to come in for other reasons. He almost got drowned by a drunk and frisky siren, but before his head went below the water he thought about Kris, about his smile, his stupid clothes, about that hair that Yixing would like to feel in his fingers. He thought about Kris’s kindness and the way he looked after Queenie with a true and fierce love, and the siren’s spell was broken. When he stomped into his office, still soaking wet, shoes squeaking with it, Amber watched him go, but didn’t say a word. Yixing was grateful for it. 

Late one evening when Yixing was going over patient files and research papers, Kris came bursting in, Queenie wailing, loud and pain stricken and horrifying. Yixing’s long-honed doctor instincts kicked in and he bolted from his chair even before Kris screamed his name, voice full of terror. 

“What happened?” Yixing shouted, helping Kris set a thrashing and screaming Queenie on the exam table.

“I don’t know!” Kris yelled back, sounding on the verge of panic, eyes wide and pleading as he looked at Yixing, hands trying to hold Queenie and mostly failing. His face hurt him as badly as Queenie’s obvious distress. 

Yixing couldn’t see any immediate injuries but it was impossible to tell with Queenie flailing as she was, so he ran to his cabinet and grabbed a low dose tranquilizer, enough to calm her but not so much that it should knock her out or cause any issues if her condition was internal. He turned back syringe ready but the second Queenie saw the needle she went completely silent and still.

Both of them were too shocked by the sudden change to do anything more than stare when she rolled over, stood up, leapt off the table and flew out the room, knocking the door shut behind her. They both stood in stunned silence, staring at the door. After a long moment, some odd sound coming from the other side of the door, she popped back up, visible through the narrow window in the door, bobbing up and down with every flap of her wings and looking extremely proud of herself.

“What the fuck?” Yixing blurted.

“Oh,” Kris said, “Oh, Yixing, she  _ flew!” _ He sounded thrilled and amazed, his eyes lighting up as he looked at Yixing. “She’s never done that before!” He took two long steps to the window, pressing both hands to either side of it and looking through it at her. “Good job baby!” 

Kris reached down to the door knob and Yixing saw that it was glowing red and in the instant before Kris touched it, he realized that Queenie must have melted the lock from the outside. 

“Don’t!” Yixing shouted, but it was too late, Kris grabbed the knob to open the door and pulled his hand back with a hiss of pain, skin on his palm already red and blistering from the heat. Queenie wailed, for real this time, plastering herself to the window, looking down at Kris’s hand cradled to his chest.

Yixing went over to him and put a hand on his back where Kris had doubled over in pain.

“It’s ok baby!” Kris gritted out to the still crying dragon. “I’ll be fine, don’t worry!”

Yixing slowly pulled him upright and Kris let him look at his hand, held gently by the wrist and elbow so Yixing could survey the damage. It looked to be a second degree burn, red and blistering, no sign of char or whitening. With a tut, Yixing went into a drawer, still holding onto Kris’s wrist, and pulled out burn cream and gauze.

While Yixing smoothed cream over the reddened skin, Kris babbled about Queenie flying, about why the hell she did that in the first place, silly thing. Nonsense muttering to distract from the pain, so Yixing let him, humming along. It was soothing, taking care of him this way, wrapping his hand in gauze with careful, steady hands while his voice washed over them both.

“Your hands are really soft,” Kris said with quiet wonder, and then immediately stiffened. “I mean, uh, they’re just,” he trailed off, no good way to end that sentence.

Wrapping done, Yixing laughed gently, and, Kris’s hand still cradled in both of his, dropped a kiss to Kris’s knuckles before he could think twice about it. 

Yixing stiffened, eyes shooting up to Kris’s. Kris’s eyes were wide, his eyebrows lifted in surprise, mouth parted. They just stared at each other, standing so close they were sharing body heat, Yixing’s back to the counter, nowhere for him to run in his mortification. Before he could apologize, Kris leaned forward and snagged a kiss. It was more a mashing of lips than a kiss, just a quick press and release, a test, an impression of warm mouth and plush lips. They watched each other, Yixing’s heart in his throat.

Yixing slowly tangled one hand into the long hair at the back of Kris’s head, and it was as soft as he always imagined it would be. Taking his time, giving Kris a chance to back away if he wanted, Yixing leaned up as he pulled Kris down the scant handful of inches between them, and kissed him, properly this time, hard, and sensual, and deep. Kris moaned into Yixing’s mouth, and Yixing was dizzy with it, slipping his tongue between Kris’s lips and tasting him at last. His uninjured hand on the counter next to Yixing’s waist, Kris pressed forward, pushing Yixing back against the counter, touching from hip to chest. It was Yixing’s turn to moan, flexing his hips against Kris’s in a slow roll.

An almighty  _ CRASH _ snapped them apart, Kris spinning as though he would shield Yixing with his body. Over Kris’s shoulder, Yixing saw the door, now on the floor, the hinge pins clearly removed, and Queenie, standing on top of it in a fighting stance, wings outstretched. Before Yixing could even properly absorb what happened, Queenie sniffed the air and looked at Yixing’s hands, now instinctively wrapped around Kris’s waist, holding him back against him.

Queenie crowed happily, a sound like a howling wolf with a throat condition, and started flying laps around the room.

“Oh my god,” Kris said, “Were you trying to set us up?” Queenie chirruped in response in a way that Kris seemed to take as a yes by the way he groaned and leaned even more heavily back into Yixing.

“Wait, what?” Yixing said, extremely confused but not at all minding the feeling of Kris in his arms.

“I, uh,” Kris said, looking at him out of the corner of his eye. “Well, I might...talk about you...a lot…?” There was a blush on his cheeks that Yixing very much wanted to kiss, so he did. Kris smiled helplessly. It was a gummy smile, a new one, one that Yixing adored maybe more than all the others he’d seen.

“Oh really?” Yixing said, teasing, spinning Kris slowly by the hips so they were facing each other again. Queenie landed on Kris’s back, front feet over his shoulder, wings still spread wide. She chattered and pressed her nose to Kris’s cheek.

“I guess I have you to thank then, Queenie, because I’ve been wanting to ask your papa out for at least a month now,” Yixing solemnly said to the dragon, earning himself another chattering happy sound and a nip to his ear. Kris chuckled, and that low rumble was even better when Yixing could feel it in his own chest, too.

Smiling, Yixing stole another kiss from Kris’s lips, and thought it tasted even sweeter with the happy flapping of dragon wings whipping the air around them. 

**Author's Note:**

> hope you enjoyed!! comments are life <333


End file.
